Happy 7th birthday, Donald Raye (III)

Seven years ago today (almost exactly) I sat, alone, inside of my hospital room holding my newborn son, smiling. He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was the cutest baby boy I'd ever seen. He slept in my arms and all I could do was lie there and watch him. He was truly a gift from God.

Rewind 5 months back to that day in the doctor's office when me and my ex were told that 'he' was going to be a 'she.' "What?" my ex replied. "You mean I'm going to have to walk through the mall with 2 little girls? Ugh!" Of course he was still happy to hear that baby was healthy and that we were both doing fine. He still was a little upset that he wouldn't be shopping for anything blue anytime soon.
"I think you're wrong Dr. Lu. I feel like this is going to be a boy," is what I said. My doctor politely nodded that 'I graduated from USC School of Medicine and I know what the hell I'm talking about' nod at me. He went on to tell me that ultrasounds do not normally mistake a boy for a girl, it's the other way around. He gave me his confidence that the baby would be a girl.

Fastforward through all of the follow up doctor's apppointments and ultrasounds, all of which turned out to confirm that his previous diagnosis was correct. Every single picture and ultrasound seemed to point out that we were having another girl. Still, I kept telling my ex, and anyone that would listen, that I felt differently about this pregnancy, and that I believed that I was carrying a boy.

Monday, October 23rd at 11:42am, as I pushed for only the 2nd time, appeared (upside down) my beautiful baby with a head full of hair and very strong lungs. Starting from the bottom up (I had forgotten it was upside down) looked the baby over and then yelled "I told you.... it's a BOY!" Dr. Lu then formed that look of defeat across his face and smiled. When I turned to look at my ex... WAIT... where did he go? He made a mad dash down the hospital hallway, to let every know (the 2 people who decided to come to the hospital for this birth) that it was a boy. He didn't even make sure that I was ok. He just bolted out of the room and began making phone calls in all of the excitement. I think he came back into the room about 5 minutes later, just in enough time to cut the cord (which means it probably wasn't that long).

Slowly but surely all of the family began to arrive to the hospital; all sad that they were not there to witness Donald Raye being born. They were all there when Ryann emerged and having 'another' girl just didn't seem to be all that exciting to them; they all opted to hear about the birth over the phone.

Eventually I kicked all of there asses out shortly after 2p and told them they had to wait until he came home....I didn't want to share my special little guy with any of those non-believers.